SLR Hot Routes: A Look Back at the Detroit Lions (VIDEO)
Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports
b) Who is your least favorite coach of all-time, and why?
Williams – Bobby Ross. I was never a fan, but these comments made me lose any respect I may have had.
"“I don’t know if Barry really loved the game, but he worked hard at it,” Ross said. “He did what he was supposed to do. I always wanted him to be a leader, but he didn’t really want that role. “He was the only player I ever coached that whenever he touched the ball, you thought he would run for a touchdown.”"
Although Ross did compliment Sanders in the last part of the above quote, questioning his love of the game and leadership in a public setting just isn’t right.
Payton – Marty Mornhinweg. I disliked him very much. We won 5 games with Mr. take the wind. I’m literally getting a bit upset just writing this. To me, Marty was the first stone casted in the decade off despair.
Fischer – Jim Schwartz. I approved of the Lions bringing him to Detroit but my disappointment grew with every year of his tenure. Not only did he fail to produce he was arrogant, unprofessional and not worthy of representing Detroit.
Mar 20, 2014; Spokane, WA, USA; NFL former head coach Steve Mariucci watches in the second half of a men
Platte – This is a really long, depressing list, isn’t it? I’d have to go with Mariucci. The guy couldn’t be bothered to learn his players’ names, often calling them by number instead of their name. There only to collect a paycheck, Mariucci mailed it in from day one, the personification of what the Lions mismanagement looked like.
DeMara – Marty Mornhinwheg. If ever there was a guy who wasn’t cut out to be a head coach, it was Mornhinwheg. The way he walked, talked and acted was an utter embarrassment to the franchise. Hiring Mornhinwheg started Detroit on the decade-long downward spiral that the franchise is only just recovering from. His offense didn’t work, he didn’t beleive in defense and he hasn’t sniffed a head coaching opportunity anywhere since. That says something.
Shackelford – Jim Schwartz. I defended him for the longest time, particularly after handshake-gate, but he consistently created a toxic atmosphere by encouraging the team to play “with a chip on it’s shoulder” which really meant, “play dirty”. Most of all, I Schwartz is my least favorite Lions coach, because his classless celebration last year in Detroit when his team carried him off the field on there shoulders. He should have been embarrassed. Instead, he soaked up every second of it.
McCoy – My least favorite coach of all time is Bobby Ross because I felt that he never really meshed with the franchise. He was the coach when Barry Sanders abruptly retired.
Ackerman – It’s hard to pick just one, but probably Rod Marinelli. His stubbornness and unwillingness to make necessary adjustments was his downfall.
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